We've all heard the phrase. And the meaning is pretty clear. "Rise to the occasion." When an opportunity presents itself, you reach out and take it... good or bad. Many war hero's will tell you they are not really hero's at all - they just did what they had to do. A situation presented itself, and they took it. Police officers, firefighters, and first responders will tell you they have no more courage than the average person, they are just doing their job. A job they have been trained for. So to rise, you need to be trained, and be ready... something our military and public service academies do extremely well. They rise to the occasion.

But the opposite can also be true.

"Once a loser, always a loser." We've heard that phrase too. Someone said to me once "He (an acquaintance) was a moron twenty years ago, and he's a moron today!" When someone is put down constantly and told they are worthless, often times they believe it. And with it repeated often enough, it becomes part of who they are; part of their innermost being; part of their personality. Some people are so engrained in their identity as a loser or a victim, that they will actually sabotage their own situation negatively, just to prove to themselves that's who they really are. Losers.

No one on this planet is a loser. To bring back a phrase from my own childhood "God don't make no junk!" You were wonderfully and carefully made. The Bible says that we were "knit together in your mother's womb." Anybody who knows anything about knitting, knows that it is a very tedious process. Each and every single stitch is created one at a time from a single piece of yarn. Your project is designed to be individual - and for a specific purpose. You wouldn't make a scarf for your feet; or a sweater for a table cloth. You were knit together and created to be uniquely you, for your own unique purpose.

So how do we train ourselves out of being a loser? Go to the source. Consult your Creator. He alone can teach and train you to rise to the levels that He has in mind. Let nothing and no one hold you back in this life. Rise to the purpose that God planned for you from before you were born. There will never again be another You!